This invention relates to compositions and processes which accelerate the oxidation of alcohol in human blood. More particularly, the invention provides for the enhanced in vivo oxidation of ethanol and/or methanol.
Alcohol consumption and its consequences have long been a challenge to the statutes that govern our society. High levels of ethanol in the blood have far reaching consequences to the user and society, as indicated by 16000 highway deaths and 1.6 million drinking related arrests per year in the United States.
Therefore there is a need to provide a remedy which can be administered to accelerate removal of alcohol from an individual""s bloodstream and therefore to shorten the period during which the individual is impaired.
There is also a need to provide a remedy to an individual who is affected by alcohol to such a degree that medical intervention is required.
The source of oxygen, both mechanical and chemical (including the use of catalase in combination with hydrogen peroxide) is an essential part of the process, both these enzymes are NOT oxygen dependent but rather use NAD+ as the oxidizing agent.
Even though the combination can include other enzymes, which regenerate NADH to NAD+, using glycerol dehydrogenase/dihydroxyacetone, the presence of a liberal supply of oxygen is an essential part of the method.
Formally, the oxidation of ethanol to acetaldehyde and then to acetic acid can be generically represented by the reactions:
C2H5OH+2H2O⇄CH3CHO+2H3Oxe2x88x92+2exe2x80x83xe2x80x83(1)
CH3CHO+4H2O⇄CH3CO2xe2x88x92+3H3O++2exe2x80x83xe2x80x83(2)
It is therefore the object of this invention to accelerate the rates of the forward reactions in the equilibria 1 and 2, by introducing additives which catalyze the forward reactions or which remove product from the right hand side of the equilibria 1 and 2 to favor their shifting to the right.
Various additives provide a remedy through an effective and rapid reduction of the alcohol level in blood of the consumer at a reasonably short time, in essence a sobriety agent. Such remedy can take the form of a liquid, a pill, a capsule, a patch or a nasal spray or any other method known to medical science and any combination thereof. Such remedy can be self-administered or, in the same or different formulation be administered at a health care facility where it can be applied intravenously, intraperitoneally or in any other method known in medical practice. The product shall apply to all alcohol containing beverages including but not limited to all beers, wines and hard liquors now in use.